“The club? What’s going on?”
V
There was nothing more annoying than men keeping their damn secrets, but it sounded like something big was happening here, so I wasn’t about to let yet another man keep me in the dark.
“V…”
“I swear to god, if you don’t tell me, I’m going to make a scene, Rocket.”
The stranger chuckled, and we all looked shocked, as his wide eyes reached mine.
“I like her,” he whispered, lowering his face to Nixie again almost immediately.
Rocket’s phone buzzed on the table, and I saw the sender was called ‘CallToArms’ but it vanished almost instantly, and he tilted it away as he checked it. Call to arms? That sounded like a battle call.
“Who’s the target?” I asked softly, and he sighed, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
“Posh bastards in the corner.” Huh.
“The ones just paying their bill?”
Rocket cursed, and the other guy flinched, and I wished I’d been introduced so I wasn’t thinking of him in my head as ‘random guy’ or whatever.
“Fuck. We can’t let them leave,” Rocket hissed at us, and I groaned. Sometimes it took a woman to do a man’s job, right?
I pushed away from the table and turned to look at the men again. They were gathering their things, getting ready to leave, and I did something hasty, and probably stupid, because I had no idea what they’d done to have the club after them. Who knew that was even a thing? I fluffed up my hair and strode across the bar, with Rocket hissing something at me that I couldn’t evenhear. I stopped beside their table, and focused on one of the two older men sitting there.
“Clive? Clive Ashford?”
He frowned at me, shaking his head slowly as the other guy laughed.
“Can’t believe people don’t recognise us anymore. It’s pretty insulting.” Ugh, even his voice was slimy.
“Are you sure? I swear I used to see you in the clinic. You have a Shih-tzu, right?”
The other man laughed again, but the guy I addressed just looked confused.
“I don’t have a dog, lady.”
I leaned a palm on the table and pretended to bite my lip in a sultry way. Honestly, I had no idea how to look sultry. I probably just looked constipated, but his eyes focused on my lips, nonetheless.
“I remember thinking how sexy you were. A real silver fox.” My inner self gagged at the thought, because there was nothing attractive about the bastard, but I was playing a part, wasn’t I?
“I wish we didn’t have to get going, as entertaining as this is,” his friend said as he stood up, “but we’ve got an early start in the morning.”
I twirled a lock of my light brown hair around my finger and eyed him slowly.
“Pity. I’ve always had a thing for silver foxes, and there are two of you. Every woman fantasises about-”
“Alright, that’s enough,”I heard Rocket snap, just before he wrapped both arms around my waist and pulled me back.
A couple of guys I assumed to be bikers stepped past me, and leaned close to speak to the men as Rocket pulled me further away, his face in my neck in a way far more intimate than our relationship had been so far. He was breathing hard, like he was fighting to stay calm.
“Rocket?”
“Fucking hated you being so close to those assholes, woman. Jesus. I just wanna get you in a shower, so I can wash the very idea of them from your skin.” What the hell?
I tried to turn in his arms, but he gripped me tighter, as the now-four bikers escorted the men outside, somehow making it look like they’d bumped into friends and were going to hang out. I noticed then that none of them were wearing the leathers that Rocket and his friend were, but I’d instinctively known they were his brothers.
